all-you-can-eat

IPA/ˌɔːl juː kən ˈiːt/
IPA/ˌɔːl juː kən ˈiːt/

all-you-can-eat — adjective

1. describing a restaurant where customers pay one set price and may take as many h

1.形容詞B1
釋義

describing a restaurant where customers pay one set price and may take as many helpings as they like from the dishes on offer.

例句

The Brazilian steakhouse downtown is an all-you-can-eat barbecue place with grilled meats at your table.

noun collocation: all-you-can-eat barbecue / buffet / restaurant

Mei's grandmother prefers all-you-can-eat restaurants because she likes to try a little bit of everything.

同義詞
  • unlimited

    broader in meaning — can apply to any resource, not just food

  • buffet-style

    emphasises self-service and a wide selection rather than the pricing model

反義詞
  • à la carte

    each dish on the menu is priced and ordered separately, not as part of a fixed-price deal

文法句型

all-you-can-eat + noun

用法筆記

This sense is almost always used attributively — placed directly before a noun such as 'buffet', 'restaurant', 'meal', or 'dinner'. It rarely appears alone after a linking verb ('The meal was all-you-can-eat' is possible but less common).

常見錯誤

❌We went to an all-you-can-eat.
✅We went to an all-you-can-eat buffet.
💡'all-you-can-eat' is an adjective, not a noun; it needs a following noun such as 'restaurant' or 'buffet'.
❌The restaurant has all you can eat dinner.
✅The restaurant has an all-you-can-eat dinner.
💡the compound must be hyphenated when it modifies a noun.

2. relating to a service, especially a mobile phone or internet plan, where subscri

2.形容詞B2
釋義

relating to a service, especially a mobile phone or internet plan, where subscribers pay a fixed amount each month and can use the service without any upper limit on how much they consume.

例句

The telecom company launched an all-you-can-eat data plan that allows unlimited video streaming.

noun collocation: all-you-can-eat data plan

We switched to an all-you-can-eat cloud storage service for the family photos and documents.

同義詞
  • unlimited

    more common and general; 'all-you-can-eat' adds an informal, vivid flavour

  • unmetered

    technical term, usually for data usage that is not tracked per unit

反義詞
  • metered

    usage is tracked and billed per unit of data or time

  • capped

    has a fixed upper limit on usage

文法句型

all-you-can-eat + service noun

用法筆記

This sense is a metaphorical extension of the restaurant meaning. It is most common in advertising for mobile data plans, streaming subscriptions, and cloud services. 'All-you-can-eat data' is now the standard informal term in Taiwan and many other markets for an uncapped mobile data package.

常見錯誤

❌I need an all-you-can-eat for my phone.
✅I need an all-you-can-eat data plan for my phone.
💡the adjective still needs a following noun; leaving it out sounds incomplete.
❌The plan gives you all you can eat data.
✅The plan gives you all-you-can-eat data.
💡hyphens are required when the compound adjective comes before the noun.